The Carolina Panthers comeback attempt in the snow at Green Bay fell short but a questionable call by coach Ron Rivera in the fourth-quarter is stealing the headlines. Trailing 24-10 with 11:58 remaining in the game, Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey scored to pull Carolina within eight.
Instead of electing for a point-after attempt, Rivera rolled the dice going for two and the conversion failed. While the analytics of the situation may make sense mathematically, it is the outside factors that must also be considered when electing to play a numbers only game.
Owner David Tepper has expressed his appreciation for football analytics since taking over the franchise, including the hiring of Taylor Rajack this past offseason to lead a new department completely focused on utilizing numbers and data in an effort to optimize the team’s performance.